Racial Capitalism in Voltaire's Enlightenment

Bibliographic Data

ID4494842
AuthorsGianamar Giovannetti-Singh (0000-0003-3752-6359, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume94
Pages22-41
Publication date2022-11-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory Workshop Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/hwj/dbac025
OpenAlexW4295980672
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

This essay argues that the concept of 'racial capitalism' can help us understand the connections between seemingly disparate parts of Voltaire's extensive corpus of work. It contends that even though the Enlightenment's racial politics abounded with contradictions and ambivalences, Voltaire stood out from his contemporaries. While the connections between his polygenism - the theory that humans of different races were created separately - and material investments in colonial commerce have long been debated by radical historians, this essay suggests that Voltaire's views about race's relationship to labour were transformed by France's colonial losses during the Seven Years' War

Capitalism · Colonialism · Economic history · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Scottish Enlightenment · Sociology · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy

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